Shhhh. (goal.)

So far the UEFA Euro2008 hasn't offered any big surprises. With half
of the teams having completed two of the three matches correspondent
to the group stage, 23 goals have been scored, for an average of 2.3
goals per match. Three of those goals were scored by Spain's David
Villa, who broke the hat-trick silence that had plagued the
competition since the Netherlands' Kluivert achieved the feat in the quarter finals of Euro2000. Four of those goals have been scored in overtime, half of them in games involving the Turkish squad. While one of the late goals sealed the Turkish side's loss against Portugal, the second one gave them a life line in the competition. On Wednesday, everything pointed to a draw between the co-hosts, Switzerland, and Turks, a situation that would have left both teams in a precarious position. But a last minute effort by Arda Turan changed things. The Turkish squad gets a chance to qualify to the next round in a match in which they will see (or play) eye to eye with the Czech for their group's second ticket to quarter finals. What we saw in Basel confirms that goals don?t need to be accompanied by a thunderous "GOAL!!!" from the crowd; sometimes just putting the home team?s fans to rest is
equally satisfying.